An investigation of the domestic and foreign tourists’ museum visit experiences

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the main factors contributing to museum experience and assess the differences in museum experience perceptions of domestic and foreign tourists. Furthermore, examining the relationship between museum visit experience and overall satisfaction for the domestic and foreign tourists is another purpose of the paper.Design/methodology/approachData collection was conducted using the convenience sampling method. The on-site survey was carried out with the participation of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Antalya Historical and Archaeological Museum in Turkey.FindingsAnalysis of data from 151 domestic and 151 foreign tourists visiting to Antalya Historical and Archaeological Museum indicated that edutainment, comfort, escape and aesthetic are the underlying dimensions of museum experience. The aesthetic dimension was identified as the most important aspect of the museum visit experience. In addition, museum visit perceptions of the domestic and foreign tourists and overall satisfactions with their visit were found to be different from each other.Originality/valueThe findings of this study provide a better understanding of the museum experience from the domestic and foreign tourists’ perspectives. Furthermore, the paper presents a novel and integrated approach to investigate tourist experiences in the extending museum experience literature.